Without a doubt, Soulslike games are very popular right now among the gaming community and it is all because of the Japanese video game development and publishing company, FromSoftware. Their Demon’s Souls and the Dark Souls series popularised this subgenre of action role-playing. These video games are known for their high difficulty levels in a dark fantasy setting.
In the past two decades, FromSoftware has successfully mastered the art of creating Soulslike games, but now, other video game studios are trying to follow in their footsteps. Team Ninja’s latest action-role-playing video game, Rise of the Rōnin, has adopted the classic Soulslike game difficulty as it punishes the players for dying. The game’s director, Fumihiko Yasuda, revealed that the game features a progression resource called Karma, which makes the game quite frustrating for the players.
Rise of the Rōnin is Team Ninja’s first open-world game
Team Ninja’s latest video game, Rise of the Rōnin, has been well-received by the fans. The game is set in the mid-19th century during Bakumatsu and allows gamers to explore Yokohama, Kyoto, and Edo as well as areas in the countryside as a nameless Rōnin. One of the main reasons behind the game’s success is its immersive open-world. In a recent interview with Game Informer, the game’s director, Fumihiko Yasuda, talked about Team Ninja’s first shot at an open-world game,
“Something we’ve always wanted to sort of do was to create an open-world title – I think that was sort of a natural next step for us.”
Team Ninja is known for creating video games that feature linear levels, so this is indeed a major change for the company. They are well-known for creating popular video game franchises such as Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive, and Nioh.
Team Ninja takes inspiration from FromSoftware for more Soulslike games
Further in the interview, Yasuda was asked if there are consequences for dying in the game, similar to Soulslike games where players must retrieve fallen experience points after dying. Yasuda confirmed that does feature a progression resource called Karma. Obviously, with the difficulty too high, fans will be frustrated when they lose Karma, making it very similar to a Soulslike game in this aspect.
The game’s development started in 2015 and Yasuda claimed at the time that they wanted to create a game that depicts Japan in its darkest times. In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Yasuda stated that they will cover “the darkest and ugliest chapters that many will shy away from.” Rise of the Rōnin was released for the PlayStation 5 on March 22, 2024.
